What If Your Immune System Stops Working?

Immunodeficiency disorders happen when one or more components of your immune system are missing or when the system is not working as supposed to be. Defects in one’s immune system can be congenital or acquired. Either way, having problems with the immune system permits harmful microorganisms to easily penetrate the body’s defenses and make anyone suffer various diseases.

Congenital Or Primary Type

If you are born with deficiencies in your immune system, you are said to be suffering from primary immunodeficiency. If you have the primary type of this disease, you may not be able to enjoy life like other people do. Your predisposition to contract all sorts of contagious diseases may start in your childhood days or it may not make its presence known until later in life. The following are two of the most common examples of inborn immunodeficiency disorder.

IgA Deficiency

IgA refers to your Immunoglobulin A which is basically a group of antibodies that are mainly found in your respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. These antibodies are largely in the form of fluids secreted in the areas mentioned and are often described as your body’s first line of defense against harmful invaders. You can also find these antibodies in your saliva and the tears in your eyes.

For people who have IgA deficiency, the body is not producing adequate amounts of this particular class of antibodies. Meaning, all harmful microorganisms may be allowed to enter your body with less or no opposition at all. Having this disorder will make you prone to most allergies, cold viruses, and other infections in the respiratory tract.

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency

Also known as SCID, this immune system disorder is defined by a severe defect in the body’s production of T-cells. Your T-cells, basically, may be thought of as the Marines of your whole defense system; T-cells do not just provide a defensive wall but they are the elite fighting units that actually attack unwanted intruders in your body. Now, you can just imagine what will happen if your body has only a few of these soldiers; it will be totally impossible for your body to keep off infections.

A classic case of SCID has been experienced by a young boy in Texas who tried to live inside a sterilized plastic bubble to prevent microorganisms from getting inside his body. This boy even became a stuff of medical legend and has been known as the Bubble Boy, which later on paved the way for this disease to be referred to as the bubble boy disease.

Acquired Or Secondary Type

Most are born without any defects in their immune system. However, factors like malnutrition, severe infections or nasty side-effects from some medication may cause disorders in some people that can weaken the body’s immune system. This type of immunodeficiency may include the following.

HIV/AIDS

Everybody has heard about the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Slowly but surely, this disease leads to the total breakdown of the immune system. The problem is caused by a virus which can annihilate the number of T-cells, particularly the helper cells, in the body. Without the T-helper cells, your body will not be able to defend itself from all sorts of infection and other harmful organisms. You can contract HIV from careless or unprotected sexual intercourse and from using hypodermic or tattoo needles that are contaminated with the virus.

Immune Disorders Caused By Medication

Sometimes, secondary immune system disorders may be brought about by some medical treatments. Take the case of chemotherapy in patients with cancer; this process is known to wipe out not just cancerous cells, but healthy immune cells as well. Also, people who have undergone organ transplants need to take medicines that are designed to suppress the body’s resistance against the new organ; which can only mean withholding immune cells from performing their functions.

Indeed, the health of your immune system is very important for your own survival. So never take it for granted. To boost your body’s disease-fighting capabilities, you can take supplements like Immunitril. Visit http://www.immunitril.com/ for more details.